Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Get A Clue, Have A Hint

Oh, I love Hint. Really, I don't mean to sound like some crazed phony bloggin’ corporate-sponsored shill (although I'll gladly accept payment for my little "get a clue" slogan...clever, no?) But I really have to say I think Hint water is one of the best things that's happened to us around here drinkwise.

Here's why: like the big dummy I am, I made the mistake of introducing my son to sweetened, sugary beverages when he was still a baby. Although I almost never drink juice myself, I guess I thought sweet, sticky apple juice was just the thing toddlers had to have in those little sippy cups of theirs. Apple, cranberry, grape...it wasn't long before he was moving on to the harder stuff: soda pop and "lemonade" at restaurants ("You call that a child's size cup?!?"), disgusting blue technicolor sugar water at school and playdates. Juice every day, juice at every meal, juice in a bag, juice in a box...even my husband started complaining if juice wasn't present at every single meal.

If I could go back again, of course, I would never introduce shmoo to this terrible juice habit. I know now that juice is only marginally better than soda; they’re both essentially a mixture of water and sugar without fiber. I know all things are fine in moderation, but too many sweet, calorie-packed beverages may be part of what’s contributing to our growing childhood obesity epidemic. And, as I can certainly attest, a tiny tummy filled with a big glass of juice or soda at mealtime won’t have much room for all the healthy foods that are on its plate (But that same stomach will somehow manage to empty itself just in time for dessert. Or so it seems.)

Anyway, the damage was done. This year the situation has been made ten times worse by shmoo’s introduction to the world of "sports beverages". That’s right, the Forces That Be have taken something naturally healthy – staying hydrated while playing sports – and turned it into another excuse to stuff our children with sugar, artificial sweeteners, flavors, colors, and preservatives. The whining, wheedling "please mom can I have a sports drink after practice, please, please, please?" campaign I have been listening to for the past 6 months has made me rue the day my son accepted his first little blue Propel from a teammate.

Then a few weeks ago I read an article in Shape magazine about Hint, and I practically gasped out loud. That’s it! That’s what I need to end this kid’s Gatorade Obsession! It's just water and natural flavors, period: no preservatives, no Sucralose, no bright purple dye, no calories.

Shmoo was quickly presented with his very own collection of all 8 flavors. His favorites are Pomegranate-Tangerine, Raspberry-Lime, and Tropical Punch. Cucumber, not so much. Oh, but he loves these silly little waters just as much as he did the sports drinks and sodas of the past, and I don’t cringe every time I see him suck one down. The Beverage Battle is over, and I am thrilled.

Now I’m just waiting for the 1 - 2 gallon jug sizes to come out, so I can use refillable bottles and save on plastic. But one battle at a time, I suppose…

Don't get me wrong - I've been hooked on pop (as it is called here in Ohio - where I grew up it was soda) since I was a kid. My parents ran a mom-and-pop grocery, and we lived behind it. The soda cooler was just too convenient.

My husband, however, rightly points out that we've lost our minds with regard to bottled water. We pay the same thing for a bottle of water that we do for pop - just nuts.

When our daughter was still an infant, I read a story about kids being diagnosed failure-to-thrive because a large chunk of their calories were coming from apple juice, and I never got her in the habit. Thank goodness she also doesn't like fizzy stuff - sticks to water unless we're in a restaurant where they've got rasberry lemonade, and I refuse to buy it for home.

That said, we had one crazy 2-week period following her spending an entire day with a friend while we attended the birth of another friend's child. I THOUGHT the friend she was with knew that when she asked for 'juice' she got water - but she had a whole day's worth of apple-juice-on-demand, and it took 2 weeks for the whining to die down when she didn't get it at home.

I'll throw lemon in my own water, but she doesn't care for it, and I've read that it's an issue for tooth enamel if you overdo it. What I'm hoping for is something that comes as a concentrated flavor in a dropper bottle, that you can add to water, with no calories or arificial sweetener. Basically the essence of 'Hint' without having to pay for the bottling and shipping of water. If water and pop cost the same thing, that's mostly what you're paying for. There may be something like that out there now, but for me to use it regularly, it can't make the cost of the water rise to the level of the bottled stuff.

Can I be a real spoiler here and say that a huge problem with kids and their drinking habits (ooh, this sounds so much like something else) has to do with the fact that water is not thought of as a normal thing to drink? I mean, does everything one drink have to be flavored?

Fortunately, I never enjoyed sodas or anything like that as a kid - and that habit stuck all the way through my adulthood. I have a sugary drink like 4 times a week, because I always prefer plain water. Odd, huh? Not quite, if you see that in the culture I live in, we don't tend to give out too much sugar in drinks to kids (although that tendency is changing).

So... instead of substituting a sugary drink for something that looks, tastes and smells sugary, why not change it gradually for something more neutral, like water or tea? It would be so much more therapeutic... but that's just little old me's oppinion :)

Just chiming in to agree with Leonor. Just say no. Milk and water are all you need to drink. If you simple refuse to buy/give your child sweet drinks, s/he will learn to live with it, just like any other decision you make. You've mentioned many times other foods you've introduced to Shmoo, and eventually he's tried them and even learned to like them. Why are you doing something different with beverages? I guess I've just disappointed because of all the ideas for good, healthy eating at this blog, that you would encourage something other than water and milk, and juice in moderation.

I'll have to admit, I'm a former juice junkie myself. I always took the "juice is as bad as pop" news with a gigantic grain of salt, thinking "hello, vitamin C??? hello, pop sucks the calcium out of bones, no WAY juice can be nearly as bad!" of course, this was before I was wise to the wiley ways of sugar.

thankfully, my gut reactions don't shut my critically inquiring mind to reason. Along with what the nutritionists were saying, I noticed the effect that a big glass of orange juice was having on my empty stomach first thing in the morning (eugh), AND that it tended to throw my blood sugar (and thus energy) levels out of whack. It also brings to mind the shrivelled up feeling in my mouth andthroat when I drank a whole half-litre bottle of cherry-pomegranate juice in one sitting. eek.

Knowing better now, I treat juice as a treat rather than as a staple. Like that mother in the cbs article, I'll give my water a splash of juice once in a while, or to add a bit of juice to my fruit smoothies, just enough to keep the blender from clogging with all the solid fruit.

ohhh and I also discovered a neat treat while I was on Colombia this past summer...Latin Americans seem to be big sugar addicts, but I found this a bit gentler. It's a fruit tea.

take a few berries, pomegranate seeds, tiny pieces of mango, or whatever fruit you prefer (I always keep some on hand, frozen) and put them in a teacup. Pour boiling water from them and voila! Aromática de frutas! And of course, the fruit in the bottom of the cup is still good to eat afterwards.

As a final little hint, mom discovered (accidentally) that a single blueberry dropped into her regular black tea adds a nice little zing instead of adding sugar.

There is some stuff out there called True Lemon and True Lime that are crystallized pure flavors, no added anything, that I like to add to to plain water or tea. It can also be used in recipes.

I can buy it at the grocery store, about $3.70 or so for a box of 40 packets, but it can be found in larger quantities (and at cheaper prices) online, which is how I get it now. Bobateadirect.com and cofffeeforless.com seem to have the best prices.

>>I guess I've just disappointed because of all the ideas for good, healthy eating at this blog, that you would encourage something other than water and milk, and juice in moderation.

Gee, I thought the whole point of this post was to say I *am* encouraging my son away from sweetened beverages, but that's it's been an enormous struggle. Saying "just drink water" around here gets me rolled eyes and a "you just don’t get it, lady" look, so it's exciting for me to find something that is so close to "just water" but gets an enthusiastic response.

s a long distance runner, I rely on drinks like Gaterade. With just water, I would hit the wall for sure. My kids like Gaterade for the same reason...it's around...but of course they aren't running for 4 hours! I'm excited to find this for them. Thanks for the tip! One reason I love your blog so much is that you aren't just a 'feed your kid healthy food' blog, but rather, you are sensative to kids' need to fit in. I appreciate that as much as I do the delicious recipes and creative presentation!

I have also battled the juice monster. It is hard to say have water when everywhere you turn someone is shoving a juice box at your kid. We have watered it down to the point of being almost no juice at all, but my 6 year old started getting her own drinks and whaddayaknow- full on juice every time. I found this stuff to make flavored water, but it does have sucralose in it (I mix it about 75% less than the package says), but still. I hear ya sista!

Here where I live (in the northeast), another brand called "O" does similar waters that are flavored but not sweetened. I try to drink mostly filtered tap water and herbal tea, but drinks like this make good breaks and are certainly great substitutes for Gatorade or soda!

Speaking of herbal tea, any chance Shmoo would drink iced versions? Bigelow has a line that's flavored with fruit juice extracts (still no sugar or calories) and they're very sweet and juicy tasting. The one I'm drinking now is called "Berri-good," but there are also pomegranate and tangerine versions.

I thank my parents for not keeping soda around the house when I was growing up. I just never got a taste for it.

I think this Hint product is a good thing for kids and other people who are used to having flavored drinks. It gets kids to drink water without all the yucky additives--and it must readjust their tastebuds to non-sweet things, since this water has no sugar.

I'm dismayed that people aren't being supportive here. I have a master's degree in nutrition and food science, a fact I try not to whip out very often in posts, but here I will. You are a clever woman to ratchet down the soda/juice to anything more healthy because once the habit takes hold moderation will be easier. Going straight to water is not terribly realistic unless you want a child sneaking quarters out of the house by age 10 to support his underground soda habit.

I like the idea of herbal iced tea mentioned above, also.

The makers of Gatorade (Pepsi), Luna Bars and Minute Maid (I think Coke owns them) are all working on flavored water/soda alternatives made with natural ingredients. They are aimed at middle aged women (because they drink them AND because they buy the food for the kiddies). Vote with your dollar and even soft drink companies will listen.

Good for you, breaking Shmoo of the sweetened drink habit. I mean, they're fine in moderation, but often times we end up drinking only sweetened drinks. I recently had to break myself of the soda/juice habit, too.

I know it's not sweet, but growing up (and even still), I love mugi-cha, which is Japanese barley tea. It doesn't have the tannic acid aftertaste of a lot of teas, is refreshing and a nice change from just water. They sell bottled versions, but I just buy the tea and brew it at home. I don't know if regular markets would carry it-- you'd probably have to go to an Asian market.

lol Such passion in some of these comments! Everything in moderation, folks. Fruit juice is a fine treat, as some have said, but water, milk (whatever kind you agree with), and herbal tea make better everyday drinks. Let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater- know what I mean? 100% fruit juice is not the devil. :)

The Hint water looks wonderful, though; I'm glad you feel relief at having found it, Jennifer. I'm a water and herbal tea drinker, primarily, but mineral water is what I go to for variety. Most kinds don't like it though.

I e-mailed Hint right after you first mentioned them and asked them where I could get it here in Denver, CO. I was told Whole Foods, in the cold drink case. I was there yesterday, but looked for it in the water aisle. I can't wait to try it. I think it's great that Shmoo loves it and that it's a healthy alternative to juice and soda.

Plain old Soda water (just carbonated water, no mineral salts). My littley loves this as a special drink, with shaped ice-cubes or funny straws, etc...I don't know if that would fly with a school-age child though.

We've also juice-detoxed over time too as the "I *neeeed* Juice/Milk" was getting pretty over the top & affecting meal times, etc.

She had one of those fancy-pants-SIGG bottles with fairies all over for her water which helped a bit. The first few weeks of saying No were pretty awful though.

I second the herbal iced tea suggestion. You can even make up really concentrated batches and dilute them with water at drinking time. I love herbal tea and have drunk a lot of it since I was a kid, and if you watch the brew time so it doesn't get bitter, it really doesn't need sugar.

Celestial Seasonings makes a lot of nice fruit teas; so does Twinings if you don't mind hibiscus in everything (makes it red -- maybe shmoo would like that!).

Wow. If I was told all I could drink was water or milk, I'd be pissed off. I'm sure Shmoo's entire liquid intake has not been converted to HINT, but that it is being utilized as an alternative to other unhealthy choices that are popular in the elementary school scene. Kudos to Jennifer for sharing this new product! Also, thank you to everyone else that has posted other tasty alternatives.

As someone whose mother forced her on a no sweets no junk food diet as a kid, I can tell you I developed a habit for those things like nothing else. I was eating brown sugar straight from the jar - the closest thing to sweets in the house. As soon as I was old enough I was at the convenient store every day buying chips, candy bars, soda... as an adult I am a vegetarian and prefer to eat healthfully, but still can't kick that urge to binge on sugar and artificial flavoring! So more power to Jennifer for keeping things in moderation and preparing her son to make his own healthy decisions.

I don't think I've seen anyone suggest freshly-juiced juice either. Live enzymes and some fiber content, and the fruit's available nutrition is still intact, freshly-juiced juice is a whole different animal than regular bottled grocery store juice. One could dilute it with water or soda water, slowly using less juice to wean kids (and ourselves!) off the sugar.

Also, I'd like to commend Jennifershmoo for providing us with realistic ideas for making good nutritionally in this difficult world, rather than taking the more common extremist tack on eating healthily and eating vegan.I want healthy eating to be a lifetime habit, not be a "phase" that can't be maintained because it's so strict and unrealistic.

I know this is totally off topic really, but I found this paragraph for Jeff. But just because is has a NATURAL flavor doesn't mean it is good for ya--and keep it far away from the kiddies. Funny, though, now I'm curious and want to give it a try.

"Keeping true to Stolichnaya’s unparalleled traditional heritage and reputation for using only the highest quality of ingredients, Stoli Blueberi is the authentic natural blueberry-flavored Russian vodka, distilled from Russian grain and clear natural water. Unique to most flavored vodkas, Stoli adds natural fruit juices prior to filtration to produce its award-winning taste. The vodka is immersed in the aromatic essence of freshly picked blueberries to achieve the distinctive Blueberi taste before being quadruple filtered. Stoli Blueberi is best served ice cold and is smooth enough to drink all by itself."

I am concerned about the environmental damage caused by manufacturing all those plastic bottles so that people can have bottled water. Even if you recycle them, they still need to be made in the first place. Here in Melbourne we have excellent tap water yet Coca Coca wants us to buy the exact same stuff in a pretty bottle. My kids get tapwater or milk or tea at home. We only buy any form of juice if we are expecting guests who might like it.

I have been toying with the idea of flavored stevia extracts and bottled water, but there's something grand about an unsweetened fruit flavored water as handy to pack as a juice box would be. I love the idea of aromatica de fruta and the "true lime/true lemon" packets, too!

I think fresh juice is a great idea that has plenty of proven health benefits. It might not be right for everyone due to the time it takes to juice and then clean the juicer, but it's actually pretty fun when there is time. We've had the best luck juicing watermelons, pineapples, apples, and oranges. We also have a company called Goodflow here in Austin that sells fresh juice. Another drawback is that the juice can go bad quickly, so it's important to plan wisely when thinking about how much to make. Mixing it with water is a great idea as well (especially since it saves money!).

I'm glad you're making new discoveries every day, Jennifer! Thanks for sharing.

Hint is nice. I love stevia drink mixes to help ease my juice cravings. They are tasty drinks that are high in vitamin C and they don't kill my blood sugar. Also, they are mixes so you save alot of packaging.

I had a question about your vanilla cupcakes. I just made them tonight and I had to cook them for about 30 minutes and they still came out slightly gushy. My mum said it was probably because I put in too much liquid, but I think it's because the milk didn't curdle even after I left it for a long while (I used rice milk because a commenter said that worked fine for her, I don't have soy). Could that have been the issue? Is soy milk vital to the cupcakes?

Hi, Ashley -- I do prefer using soymilk in some instances like this one. Because of its fat content it really does "curdle" into "buttermilk" in a way that rice milk will not, and I sometimes find it essential (especially in my pancakes). So you might try again with soymilk.

It also sounds like you may have just used too much liquid in general. If you can't have soy, I would say try again with the rice milk and use less, or try coconut milk.

Hi Jennifer. Love your blog. I have it posted at our church website at www.gettysburgadventist.org on the 'About Us' page.

For those just starting out with little ones you might want to try this... Think of it as juice 'tea'. Take a small amount of juice and add water - yes, that's right, regular ole H20, to taste. Your little ones will never know the difference, basically, because they've never had anything else. Believe me, you won't regret starting them out this way. I wish I would have done this sooner, as my pocket book would be thanking me in more ways than one; cost of juice, dental care, trips to the store, etc.

I've actually weaned my middle schoolers off the juice habit by adding water to their juice a little at a time. They are now at the stage where they will drink it 50-50. I personally like it 25-75, but each to his own.

Sounds like a great product for your little shmoo! The cucumber sounds very appealing to me so if I ever see it, I will buy it to try for myself. :D Also loving Suzanne's idea for the aromática de frutas!

Boylan's soda water flavored in orange and lemon, sold in old fashioned glass bottles (arrggg, the bottle again, but I'm glad it's not plastic), is delicious! No sweeteners, no sugar, no calories at all.

I really just can't get enough of this topic. I remembered at Wild Oats one day a rep for the company that makes this powdered "sports" drink mix, called Ultima Replenisher, was giving out samples and literature. It tasted pretty good. It is sweetened with Stevia so has no sugar content. Being powdered you could control the amount used. It is kinda expensive though. This linkt to their website shows a chart comparing it to Emergen-C, Gatorade, Vitawater, etc. http://www.ultimareplenisher.com/comparesportsdrinks.phpFor active people this may be a great alternative to Gatorade.

hi jennifer!thanks so much for sharing about hint! i am very interested in something like that :)

totally off topic- do you have a handy list or website of dark chocolate that is vegan friendly? i was enjoying a piece or two of dove at work and then this weekend found out it had butterfat in it. i'm new to vegan and was hoping you had this info handy!

ps still loving your blog and i've been having a blast playing with the cookbook. also i've gotten so many comments and compliments on the to go ware and your cover! I got the black one :)

Most dark chocolate is vegan friendly. Some of the cheaper, mass-produced brands like Hershey's and Dove add butterfat or milkfat, but they are the exception.

http://store.foodfightgrocery.com/chocolatebars.html Those are some of the bars. You can also indulge in serious chocolate geekery, and read ingredient lists for a wide range of chocolates at http://seventypercent.com/

Jennifer:Love the blog! I made the lunchbox fondue, and even my carnivore hunny loved it!THe Celestial Seasonings packets have sugar, most of the flavored waters have aspertame.I did find Flavors2Go that has no sugar:http://www.nmoa.org/PRoducts/flavors.htmAnd Water Sensations, but they are flavored with Sucralose. So it all depends on your preference.http://www.watersensations.com/products.aspAnd I also found

I do use Water Sensations. They say one tube is for a 16 ounce bottle. I use 2 tubes for a half gallon of water. I don't buy juice any more, but I keep a small stash of juice boxes for "special" occasions. I wish I had never given my kids juice!

I like a little juice here and there, as does my 7 year old neice, but I'll mix 1/4 juice with 3/4 water. If you're a juice junkie, you probably think that sounds disgusting. But when you get used to it, it's really quite good. I'll have to check out this Hint water, but I can say for sure that it's a lot cheaper to go my way! :)

Thanks for writing about HINT Jennifer! I just wanted to check in and say a little more about what we are doing at HINT, why we are doing it, and so on. I'm Kara and I developed HINT because I was thisty and wanted a clean, simple, good tasting product. As a huge beverage consumer and parent I was thirsty and looking for a drink that would keep me hydrated without all of the extra "stuff" -- so HINT was developed. I was frustrated by all of the marketing jargon that I saw out there in the marketplace. So I peeled away alot of the marketing messages that so many beverages have out there (my favorite is "no sugar added" -- when the product HAS juice in it or potassium sorbate "for added potassium") and found that no one was really getting me the product that I wanted. Anyway, I wanted a product that was water with just a "hint" of flavor -- think lime or cucumber in water. HINT is all natural, no sugar, no sweeteners, no preservatives and no calories. No one is doing this. Not Coke. Not Pepsi. Not Nestle. As a mother of 4, I wanted a drink that I could drink as well as one that my family could drink to stay hydrated. I didn't want a "water" that was sweetened with Splenda, Stevia, Sucrolose, Sugar -- that to me is not water! I didn't want a "water" that had preservatives like potassium sorbate. I didn't want "water" with juice or calories. And I wanted it to be vegan and natural! So 20 months into the game we are making our way across the US. In about 70% of the Whole Foods nationwide as well as some big chains like Ralphs and Stop n Shop. Hoping for more outlets soon. It's hard when the big guys take up the space! You will also see us supporting many cause related initiatives like Cure for Autism (we are the national water sponsor) as well as Aids Walk NY and LA. Also entrepreneurial initiatives like Sundance where entrepreneures like us are going against the grain to change things. So please, if you would, request us at your local stores. It really makes a difference! Our goal at HINT is to change the beverage industry to give consumers what they really want in a beverage! And please feel free to stay in touch at kara@drinkhint.com best....

Wow! Jennifer and Kara I thank you. I thank you Kara for creating a beautiful delicious product that I can feel good about serving my children. I'm thankful to Jennifer for bringing to our attention and I'm thankful to HINT for recognizing Autism. Last week it was revealed that 1 in 150 children are diagnosed with ASD's including two of my three children. I'm off to post about HINT and your sponsorships on all of my message forums!

So, after reading this blog entry, I wanted to try Hint. I finally found it at my local 'Famima!'. I have to say, it's pretty good. i usually hate drinking water, so this is a pretty good alternative :)